That 70s Show
by Kalta79
Summary: What if the cast of FFVII lived in the 70s? No relationships tagged because they'll be changing due to all the free love. Blame Cid's Shagadelic Palace in obsidian's Stolen for this idea. Unless otherwise stated, all characters are in their late teens or early twenties. #Alternate Universe - Hippies #Period Typical Attitudes #Growing Up/Coming of Age #Character Death #lemons
1. Chapter 1

Rude woke up to someone pounding on the door. "I'm coming, chill out!" he called out as he threw something on before leaving his bedroom and standing in front of the door of his apartment. "Who is it?"

"Just open the door, man!" a familiar voice called out.

"Reno…I should have known." Rude muttered as he opened the door. "Do you know how early it is?"

"Early for you, late for me." Reno smirked as he staggered in and plopped  
down in the closest bean bag chair. "Mind if I…" Reno waved negligently toward Rude's bong on the table. "I need to mellow out before I can get some sleep."

"Where's yours?" Rude asked.

"Aerith broke it." Reno admitted with a Chesire cat grin.

"Aerith?" Rude was surprised. "I thought you blew that chick off cause she was too freaky."

"Free love, man, _free_ love. It means you never have to say that unless she wants to turn you into a square." Reno replied.

"You're a regular Casanova, aren't you?" Rude wondered how long Reno would stick around this morning.

"What's with you lately?" Reno asked before taking another hit off the bong. "You're like permanently trippin' out..."

"It's that Elena chick who just moved in." Rude reluctantly admitted as he looked in the mirror ball to check his afro. "She's far out."

"Elena? Have I met her yet?" Reno wondered. "If you're interested, want me to feel her out for you?"

"Dude, you're a real piece of work, you know that? Just cause you have a dick doesn't mean you have to be one." Rude told his buddy, only to answered by Reno's snoring. "I stand corrected." he said, grabbing the bong out of Reno's slack hand before it fell onto the shag carpeting and made a mess.


	2. Chapter 2

Aerith heard a subtle persistent noise, and she groaned in protest, not wanting to be awake. She went to throw her blankets over her head and go back to sleep, and that's when she realized she wasn't in her bed. Opening her eyes carefully, she found herself on the beach, and the noise was the ocean. Breathing a huge sigh of relief when her fear of being nude on the beach turned out to be false, she wondered how she got here. Her pounding headache and general feeling of ickiness suggested she was hungover, but how….? " **Reno**!" Aerith blurted out angrily, which was a mistake and she grabbed her head, groaning louder.

"Who's that?" Cloud asked.

Genesis walked closer to the sound, peering over the small dune. "One of Reno's women." he replied casually, remembering seeing them at the party last night. The woman was attractive and her dress was classier than his usual conquests, and if she was vulnerable to what Reno considered charm, he might try his luck with her later, but right now, and not just because she was cursing Reno quite inventively which impressed him with her creativity, but because…right on time, the old beat-up car pulled up.

"She's here!" Cloud excitedly exclaimed, trying to hurry up and reach the car before Genesis did, but in his haste he fell down a couple times and they both ended up reaching it at the same time. "Hi Scarlet!" Cloud blurted out, wanting to talk to her first.

"It's a lovely morning for a lovely lady." Genesis calmly said, walking up her as she got out of the car and handed her a rose.

"Why thank you, Genesis. And hello to you, Cloud." Scarlet would be lying to herself if she didn't admit to being flattered when the two men started paying constant attention to her, but sometimes it only reinforced her grief and loneliness, having only been a widow for eight months. And she also didn't like how she sometimes felt like just a prize the two were competing for. "If you'll excuse me, I've got to get to work." Scarlet took out her camera. Photography didn't pay much, but with a toddler son, every cent counted, especially when it didn't have the overhead some other freelance jobs did.

Aerith heard voices nearby, but ignored them since they went away. How could she have been so stupid as to go that bonfire party last night knowing Reno would be there? She frowned, knowing that's exactly why she went. Aerith couldn't understand why she kept being so drawn to him, since she felt he was nothing but a loser. Seeing her parents struggle to make ends meet made her want more out of life. "I should have broken his dong, not his bong." she muttered, blushing as she said it, since her captious temper might have done just that during their intense encounter. She took a deep breath, rationalizing her behavior with him as nothing more than pure lust, enhanced by both of them drinking too much.

"Excuse me?" a voice said from behind her.

Aerith had to turn her head awkwardly to see who it was, and it aggravated her headache, causing her to grab it again. "You're…" she moaned.

"Zack." he said, sticking his surfboard in the sand and bending down next to her. "Are you here alone? Do you need someone to come get you?"

"I…l'll be fine eventually. Wait, what time is it?" Aerith suddenly asked.

"Kinda late for me this morning, it's almost eight." Zack told her.

"Oh no, I need to get home and get ready for work!" Aerith exclaimed, trying to get up. She hated selling perfume at the department store, but she was saving up for college. She refused to be in debt for anything. Her attempts to stand failed, and Zack easily caught her before she fell.

"I think you're going to have to be late today." he said, holding her securely against his wet suit. "But if you don't mind waiting a little bit, I can drive you home after I catch some waves. Do you live far?"

Aerith hesitated, she barely knew this man, but her desire to not be late overrode her usual caution. "Thank you. No, I don't live too far." she replied.

"Okay, be back soon." Zack grinned at her as he gently sat her down on the sand, then grabbed his board and ran for the ocean. Aerith stared after him, thinking what a nice smile he had.


	3. Chapter 3

"Don't you have classes this morning?" Rufus asked Tifa as he stopped in front of her open bedroom door.

"Yuffie's taking care of it for me." Tifa replied as she sat in front of her vanity table fixing her hair, referring to the foreign exchange student living with them.

"That's not her responsibility, it's yours." Rufus snapped at her.

"I have other plans this morning." Tifa smiled softly as she put her blue glasses on.

"Listening to that chump shoot his mouth off again?" Rufus frowned.

"Genesis is not a chump! He's a wonderful poet!" Tifa fired back, standing up in anger. "I'm glad we don't look alike, I couldn't stand anyone knowing what a drag my brother is!" Tifa grabbed her purse and stormed out.

Rufus was about to shout that he wasn't any happier that his sister was such a flake after her, but their butler appeared, telling him Tseng had arrived for their meeting.

Reno finally woke up and immediately asked for some munchies. "Here ya go." Rude handed him a cupcake.

"What is this?" Reno stared at the prettily decorated baked good with the same disgust he looked at suits and ties with. "Are you turning pansy on me or something?"

"Shut it. Elena brought over some leftovers while you were out. Her family runs their own bakery." Rude informed him with a smile. "I told you, she's far out. You better hurry up and get back to your own pad. Tseng will be doing inspections today to make sure everything's cool."

"Fuckin' Tseng man…he's worse then the damned fuzz." Reno voiced his familiar complaint about their apartment manager as he scarfed down the cupcake. "Hey, that was primo, where's the rest of 'em?"

"Sorry, brother. You'll have to get your own, so try not treating her like an bimbo." Rude replied. "Now I need you to buzz off."

Reno sulkily complied, none too happy his best bud was thinking about getting serious about some stupid chick…with all the free love available, what was the point? He entered his own pad and threw himself onto the revolving bed, quickly falling back asleep.

Tifa pulled up to the park in her prized custom painted VW Beetle. She could have used the Aston Martin, but flaunting her wealth would totally get her ragged on. She checked her hair and makeup one last time, then adjusted her blue and white short peasant dress to show as much cleavage as possible, the necklace with the peace symbol charm falling artfully between her breasts. Carefully getting out, she hurried as much as she could where Genesis was sitting on a big stump, reciting poetry to whoever would listen.

"When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end…" Genesis paused when he saw one of his regular devotees appear. "The goddess descends from the sky." He smiled at Tifa who quickly sat carefully down on the ground and looked up at him raptly. "Wings of light and dark spread afar, she guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting." Genesis paused again to reach out and trail a gloved finger on Tifa's cheek as he said the word bliss. "Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess, we seek it thus, and take to the sky. Ripples form on the water's surface, the wandering soul knows no rest."

"That's heavy, man." Tifa was the first to speak when he stopped and waited for applause and comments of approval, even though she had no idea what he was talking about.

"Yes, having such wisdom to pass on is a deep burden I must bear." Genesis sighed heavily as he stood up. "Your willingness to hear me does make me feel lighter though."

"I'd like hear you out more." Tifa quickly stood up as well, smiling at him.

"My friend, your desire…" This time Genesis put his whole hand on Tifa's cheek and leaned down to her. "Is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess." He was about to kiss her when he saw Scarlet out of the corner of his eye sitting on a bench taking pictures of the waterfowl on the pond. "But duty calls and I must spread my wisdom elsewhere. Fear not, even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return." He handed her a rose in apology.

A very frustrated Tifa watched him walk away from her and approach the older blonde. Frowning, she kicked the stump he had been sitting on as hard as she could, then yelped in pain and hobbled back to her car. She might as well have gone to her classes after all!


	4. Chapter 4

"We meet again, my fair lady." Genesis said to Scarlet as he sat down next to her on the bench, holding his head straight as if he were looking at her face as his eyes lecherously traveled over her body, admiring her carefully tie-dyed dark red and purple dress that had a plunging neckline and exposed her crossed legs. She also wore jewelry that complimented the overall bohemian look she preferred.

"You scared the ducks away!" Scarlet frowned at losing at her next shot as she watched them flap off into the distance.

"I offer you my humblest apologies." Genesis bowed his head to her. "I shall bear your silence as my punishment until they return."

"Don't bother, I have to go pick up Denzel from the babysitter now anyway. I'm sorry I snapped at you, I know you didn't mean to ruin anything." Scarlet put her camera back in its bag and left.

Genesis was rather pleased as he watched Scarlet leave…she hadn't objected when he referred to her as _his_ fair lady. She was without a doubt the grooviest chick he had ever met, and he would win her over Cloud yet! Genesis frowned as he thought of his rival for Scarlet. He had taken the poor lad under his wing, when he seemed genuinely interested in learning about the true poetry Genesis spoke, but when Cloud had brought Scarlet to Genesis' attention, the fool actually felt he had a right to her as well. But Genesis would show him, and even if disaster befell his quest for Scarlet's hand, all was not lost. Genesis had that dark-haired beauty with the generous rack who recognized his genius, and there was also that brunette on the beach with quite the mouth on her he'd like to sample. It was such a great time to be alive, loaded with infinite possibilities!

Yuffie entered the college classroom for the next class on Tifa's list. "Is this…" she looked at the handwritten note Tifa had given her. "Creative writing class?" she asked the first student she saw.

Surprised that a woman actually spoke to him, Sephiroth gulped and tried to stutter an answer out. "Y..ye…yes…ma'am."

"Don't you know how to treat a gal, Poindexter?" Vincent said, strolling into the classroom behind Yuffie and nearly shoving her out of the way as he stood aggressively in front of Sephiroth's desk.

"Poin…dexter?" Yuffie queried the unfamiliar word. She had thought her English was good when she was accepted into the exchange program, but life here was so different, the teachers and students seemed to be speaking two different languages at times.

"Yeah, can't you tell by his killer threads?" Vincent said mockingly.

"My mother picked these clothes out for me!" Sephiroth retorted.

Yuffie looked at Sephiroth's polka-dotted bowtie and plaid shirt, then at Vincent's leather jacket and black t-shirt. Her own black and white floral top and headband were hers, the bellbottoms and leather vest had been lent to her by Tifa. Before she could say anything else, the teacher slammed his hand down on his desk.

"Okay, I don't wanna be here anymore than you slackers do, so get yer butts in a chair and let's get on with it." Cid ordered them. He had never thought he would be teaching college kids, but it was better than having charges filed against him. Living next door to a so-called institute of higher learning wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Damned hippy kids kept disturbing _his_ peace, so he wrote quite the letter to the college paper, and when that didn't stop them, he went on campus to where the students were trying to cross onto his lawn, physically stopping them, and the police were called. None of the other faculty were interested in teaching this class, and they definitely felt his colorful complaint qualified as creative writing, so they offered him this job instead of pressing charges. He would have rather gone to jail, but he wanted to get out of the doghouse with Shera.

"May I sit here?" Yuffie asked Cloud, who was wondering why his tie-dyed MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR! shirt was so itchy. Maybe Genesis did something to try and ruin his chances trying to score with Scarlet. He saw her first, not Genesis! Cloud had met her when he had been trying his hand at being a beatnik, thinking maybe it would get him laid, but listening to the other beatniks, he just felt like hitting them, and he found out he was allergic to pot. He had been about to throw his bongo drums into the ocean when Scarlet had asked to photograph him with them. Her cool beauty with just a hint of sadness in her eyes had instantly impressed him, but last time he had called a chick a 'righteous mama', he got slapped, so he just agreed to let her take his picture.

He had started hanging out with Genesis because their parents were old friends and he seemed to quite a smooth operator, so Cloud thought he'd study his technique and see if it would work on Scarlet, but when Genesis had wormed the truth out of him, he had the nerve to make a play for her too. So Cloud had decided to take the creative writing class to beat him at his own game. "Yeah, no problemo." Cloud gestured for Yuffie to take the empty seat next to him.

After the class, Yuffie went to the bulletin board to see if there was anything that could help her. She gasped in delight when she spied and deciphered the badly scrawled note and quickly took it down, hurrying away.

Rude was just finishing cleaning up when there was a knock on the door. Fully expecting it to be Tseng, he didn't even ask who it was, just automatically opened the door to a cute little foreign girl. "Uh, can I help you?"

"This is you?" Yuffie asked, handing the note to Rude.

Rude scanned the note, instantly recognizing Reno's handwriting, offering Rude's services for helping foreign students with their English at very cheap rates, complete with his address and phone number. "Yeah, that's me, but…" Rude started to tell her it was a prank, but she had barged past him into his crib.

"I need help." Yuffie demanded. She was obviously missing something, she didn't understand half of what said in the creative writing class. "How much?"

Reno woke up to someone knocking on his door and he started cursing as he accidentally turned the bed on and it started rotating. He just rolled off it and managed to get himself upright again and to his door. Opening the door, his curses turned silent as Tseng stood there.

"Hello, Reno. May I come in?" he asked.

"Can't stop you." Reno grimaced and stepped out of the way. "Big brother has landed." he muttered under his breath.

"No leaks, infestations, or other problems to report?" Tseng asked him, keeping his inspection to make sure the plumbing was working, and a quick glance over the place. He refused to touch anything of Reno's, not only for legal reasons, but mainly for hygienic ones. He knew of Reno's fascination with free love, his medallion he always wore made that clear, and the man was also quite slovenly, so Tseng preferred to keep his hands to himself when inspecting his apartment.

"No sir, it's a _way_ _cool_ apartment!" Reno replied in an almost mockingly cheerful tone, with an obviously fake smile pasted on his face.

"Very good." Tseng headed towards the door, pausing by the door. Reno had started to flip him off, thinking he was leaving, but when Tseng turned around, Reno quickly put two fingers up in the peace symbol instead. "By the way, you might want to do something with that." he told Reno, pointing to something by his bed.

Once Tseng had closed the door behind him, Reno went to his bed and picked up an unopened condom packet. "But I…" He dropped the packet again as he blanched in fear. "I thought I used that with Aerith!" he blurted out, realizing it must have fallen out of his pocket when he fell out of bed to answer the door. A few moments later he shrugged, deciding he didn't have to worry about it, Aerith surely was smart enough to have her own protection…she'd want to, if she threw herself at other men like she did with Reno. Sure she had been mad at him for some reason when she ran into him at the beach bonfire party, but she was _really_ good at angry sex…

When Tseng approached Rude's door next, he noticed the door open. Concerned, he stepped into the apartment in time to see Rude and Yuffie standing next to each other, with her asking how much he charged.

"Am I interrupting?" Tseng asked sharply, none too happy to see his boss' houseguest in some kind of business deal with one of the tenants he wasn't too sure about.

"Oh, Mr. Tseng, he will help my English for cheap." Yuffie said when she saw him, having seen him frequently around Rufus and Tifa's house, while Rude stood there looking embarrassed.

"That's good to know, but I need to inspect his apartment now please." he told her.

"I will call later." she said to Rude as she left.

"She is the Shinra's houseguest, don't invite trouble." Tseng warned him as he walked around the apartment. Rude at least was cleaner than Reno, and would make his place presentable when needed. "Are you satisfied with everything?"

"Yes, sir." Rude replied without the attitude Reno had.

"If problems arise, please contact me, not Mr. Shinra." Tseng reminded him like he did at the end of every inspection, then left. Elena wasn't home, so Tseng left a note on her door to schedule a convenient time for inspection.

As soon as Tseng was gone, Rude went barging into Reno's pad. "What kind of lowdown trick was this?" he demanded to know, waving the note in Reno's face.

"Dude, you really need to chill." Reno was used to Rude thinking he'd done something wrong. "I was just doing you a solid…think of it man, tons of foreign chicks wanting your help…and you know they'll leave, and new ones will come. Plus you'll get tons of bread to boot. It's off the hook! It's the sweetest setup ever, and I'm handing it to you!"

Rude just stood there listening to him go on about the brilliance of the 'plan' and how nice he was being giving it to Rude, and he wondered if Reno knew how he really sounded sometimes.


	5. Chapter 5

"You were almost late this morning, is everything okay with you?" Lucrecia asked Aerith during their lunch break.

"Oh, um, I overslept." Aerith honestly told her boss, idly brushing some renegade crumbs off her green dress, unaware she was blushing as she thought of Zack's friendly chatter when he drove her home in her car, telling her he didn't mind walking back to the beach. He seemed like a nice guy, but so did Reno at first, then she found out what a dick he was, which was pretty much the only nice part about him. Zack seemed to have a nice body too, she thought, which made her blush harder as she thought of his firm body against hers, first when he held her so she wouldn't fall, then when he carried her to her car. "I promise it won't happen again."

"Good enough." Lucrecia dismissed the matter, since Aerith was the most reliable of the young employees she had working for her, and looked at her gold and diamond watch. "Lunch break's over, I'm afraid."

"Yes, ma'am." Aerith said, wishing she could afford a watch like that. Someday, she promised herself. In the meantime, she had to stand for hours on end squirting perfume at other women who probably were as annoyed with her for doing it as she was at having to do it. At least she was able to take a couple aspirin at home to deal with her headache.

"What's happening?" Zack asked the bodega owner as he put some cheap snacks down on the counter.

"Not much." Barret replied. "And it's on the house this time, thanks for fixing my car last week." He pushed the snacks towards Zack.

"Hey thanks, man." Zack replied.

"But would ya give these to Scarlet? Just don't tell her it's from me. She's one dang fine mama, and it ain't easy raising a kid on yer own." Barret thought of little Marlene, and his constant worry that he wasn't doing enough for her as he handed Zack a small paper bag.

"You're alright, you know that?" Zack said as he took the paper bag.

"Yeah yeah…now beat it, will ya? Make room for paying customers." Barret suddenly felt embarrassed at his charitable acts and Zack's response to them. The surfer was one of his favorite customers, the young man wasn't as annoying as many of his peers were.

Zack headed to the college next to put an ad up on the bulletin board for cheap car repair. After surfing, he liked working on cars more than anything. That girl…was her name Aerith?…he thought he heard something off about her transmission, but he didn't get a chance to ask her if she'd like him to check it out, she was in such a hurry to get to work. He might stop by her place later and ask her then, but she must be single, otherwise she wouldn't be on the beach hungover alone, and he didn't want her to take it the wrong way. She sure was pretty though, maybe even prettier than Cissnei, a fellow surfer who made it no secret she'd be quite willing to try his skill on or off the waves…Zack found himself smiling as he stuck his note on the board. As he left the campus, he was accosted by one of the military recruiters. Zack couldn't think of an excuse quick enough, so he took the pamphlets Captain Veld gave him, then headed to the park where he thought Scarlet would be now.

Cloud was sitting out of sight at the park, wanting to see Scarlet without her knowing he was watching her. He was trying to come up with an interesting poem to top Genesis, but it was all bunk so far.

"The price of freedom is steep." A voice interrupted him, and he turned to see Zack standing near him holding a paper bag, watching a military funeral procession drive past the park.

"Hey, that's great man, can I use that?" Cloud excitedly asked him.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure." Zack replied distractedly, not even really aware he had spoken aloud. He walked up to Scarlet, finding her watching the last of the procession dwindle from sight, tears streaming down her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Zack." Scarlet hurriedly wiped her tears away, her remembered grief was just that, hers…she didn't need to advertise it to the world. "I might need to take more pictures of you surfing next week, if you don't mind."

"Only if you take this." Zack handed her the bag, glad he could give her something.

"Your mysterious friend again?" Scarlet forced a smile. She had figured out it was from the local bodega, she recognized some of the handwritten price labels.

"I know nothing." Zack claimed innocence. "I'll probably be at the beach every morning next week for a change." he smiled back at her and left, feeling awkward at seeing her upset, but he knew she didn't like to talk about her husband and would get more upset if he harped on it.

Reno was just leaving his pad to go score some free love when he heard a noise. Turning to his right, he saw Elena grab the note from Tseng off her door and shriek in anger.

"Is this for real?" Elena blurted out.

Another idea occurred to Reno, a way to keep Rude open for free love and harass Tseng and Mr. Shinra at the same time. "Yeah, welcome to life under the Gestapo." Reno told her. "If you think it's bogus, go complain to Mr. Shinra. It's all his fault. Do you know where he lives?"

"I'll do more than complain!" Elena promised.

Aerith was surprised to find an unfamiliar white Volkswagen van parked in her parents' driveway when she came home from work. She still wasn't feeling 100% from the beach party and having to work that way made her incredibly cranky. She got out of her car and went to go inside to ask her parents who it was, when she found the surfer in front of her door, about to knock on it, then turned around to leave instead.

"Oh!" Zack was startled by her sudden appearance. "Um, hi again."

"Can I help you?" she asked him testily, wondering why he seemed so nervous. His blue eyes disconcerted her, they reminded her a bit of Reno, and that started making her angry.

"I was…uh…wondering…have you had your car checked recently?" he blurted out. "There might be something wrong with your transmission."

"What?" It was Aerith's turn to be startled, she hadn't been expecting that…was he offering to be her mechanic? She relaxed a bit, he was nothing like Reno after all, that man never did anything but help himself. "You fix cars?" she smiled at him.


	6. Chapter 6

"Yes Father, I understand." Rufus spoke into the phone, his nostrils flaring as he listened to him. "I'll remind her when she comes home, she had morning classes scheduled and might have gone to the library afterward. "We'll do our best to make you proud to come home. Mr. Tseng has been very helpful. I'll pass along your instructions. Give our love to Mother. Enjoy your stop in St. Tropez, I know Tifa will be upset to be missing out on the Cannes Film Festival. I won't forget, you may be sure of that. Very well, Father, goodbye." Rufus resisted the urge to slam the phone down. "And my sister thinks I'm a drag…she'll just _love_ this." he muttered to himself. Standing up from their father's desk in the office, he decided he needed a dip in their pool to cool off. He had been happy at first to stand in his father's stead while their parents cruised the French Riveria, but it also meant being his sister's keeper, no easy task when she was used to being a daddy's girl and getting her own way. He was halfway to his room to change, passing through the foyer when there was a loud knock on the door, and the butler hurried to answer it.

"Where's Mr. Shinra?" Elena all but shrieked at the butler.

"I'm Mr. Shinra, what's this all about?" Rufus replied. As far as he knew he had never seen the cute blonde with a few smudges of white powder on her before, his father constantly lectured him, and Tifa too, against unbecoming conduct to people of their social rank, so he only socialized with his female peers, one of whom he would be forced to marry someday soon, to continue their proud lineage, not that he was impressed with them. They were not only shallower than his sister, some were quite vapid and callous.

"Is this for real?" Elena repeated her question, this time shoving the paper almost in Rufus' face.

"As you're waving it in my face, clearly it's real." Rufus coolly stated. "And that makes it hard to know what you're talking about, Miss..."

"Miss None Of Your Business, and neither is my pad. You have no right to have my apartment inspected!" Elena snapped. "I was never told about this and I pay plenty of dough to live there!"

"My family owns the building, yours doesn't." Rufus pointed out calmly. "I suggest you read your rental agreement again. I presume you can read."

Elena slapped him in outrage at the implication she was just another blonde bimbo. "Just cause you're loaded doesn't mean you can act like an uptight…"

"My sister used the word 'drag', I imagine you'd use something more colorful. Now is there a good reason I shouldn't call the police after you've barged into my home to insult and assault me?" Rufus demanded to know. Staring into his frozen blue eyes, Elena realized no other reaction could be expected. Without another word, she stormed out. Rufus sighed heavily and turned to the butler. "Call Mr. Tseng and tell him I'd like him here within the hour. I'll be in the pool."

Reno sat in his car wondering where he should go first. He couldn't stand listening to the so-called poets, but he always had good luck scoring with the poet's groupies. Thinking about groupies reminded him of The Ramones having a concert later in the day, that would be the grooviest place to pick up chicks!

Tseng arrived half an hour later, heading towards the pool once the butler told him that's where he would find Rufus. He waited patiently until the young man had become aware of his presence and gracefully swam to the stairs and walked out of the pool, taking the towel that Tseng handed him. "How may I assist you now, sir?" he asked Rufus.

"I had an interesting visit a short while ago, by a simply _charming_ blonde who demanded to know why I had the nerve to inspect her apartment." Rufus' voice dripped with sarcasm. His laps in the pool had been partially successful, taking the edge off his frustration with his family obligations and Elena's unexpected visit, but now Tseng was here to answer his unspoken questions.

Tseng looked properly abashed as he realized it must be Elena he was talking about. "I apologize, sir. I did not give anyone permission to bother you, I specifically told them to contact me, not you. I don't even know how she got your address."

"Good, but she still created quite the scene." Rufus continued, "And this can't be allowed to happen again. What is her source of income?"

That question surprised Tseng, but he answered it. "Her family runs a successful bakery."

"So the white smudges must have been flour." Rufus muttered under his breath, relieved Tseng hadn't slipped up and allowed hard drugs into the apartment building. Pot wasn't technically allowed either, but there was an unspoken understanding that as long as the tenants followed the other rules and didn't flaunt it, no one cared, provided Rufus' father never found out.

"Excuse me?" Tseng wondered what he had said.

"Don't sweat it. Anything else to report about the inspections?" Rufus wanted to know.

"I found Miss Kisaragi at one of the male tenants' apartments, apparently for help with her English. I don't know if that is a cause for concern, the tenant isn't a troublemaker, but I wanted to let you know." Tseng replied.

"Thank you." Rufus finished drying himself off and flung the towel over his bare shoulder, signaling Tseng's dismissal, who promptly left, reminding himself that Rufus was his employer, nothing more. As Rufus walked to his bathroom, he wondered the only two women he had met with anything resembling an interesting personality was a baker's daughter and a foreign student, both of whom were totally unsuitable. Yuffie constantly practiced yoga and martial arts, and the way she could move her body had impressed him, so he had taken to arranging his schedule to allow him to watch her.

"Elena!" Rude exclaimed when she stormed into the elevator with him, looking ready to kill. "Are you..."

"That Mr. Shinra is a fucking square!" she blurted out as she forcefully jabbed the button for their floor.

Rude blinked in surprise as the doors slid shut. "Why'd ya go see _him_?"

"Reno gave me his address so I could complain about the inspections." Elena replied. "So I complained all right." She started pacing in the elevator car becoming more agitated as she ranted. "Thinks I'm just another blonde bimbo...that's probably the only kind of woman a jerk like him knows! I'm a modern educated woman, or I will be, once I get my degree. I don't have take sexist crap from anyone!"

"You're going to college?" That surprised Rude, and he also felt a flare of anger over Reno's meddling, his best friend was clearly trying to get Elena in trouble.

"Yeah, I'm either going to be a lawyer or a veterinarian." she paused in her ranting as the doors opened to their floor and they went to their respective doors. "Mind if I hang out with you for a while?" she suddenly asked him when he started to unlock his front door.

"Uh, yeah, if you wanna chill, that's okay." Rude felt himself start to ramble in response to her unexpected request. Was this his chance? "I was just gonna mellow out and watch the boob tube." He moved out of the way so she could enter his crib first.

Elena walked in just past the threshold, then she turned around and grabbed Rude's shirt, pulling the astonished man to her. "I told you, I'm a modern woman." Elena kissed him. "And I need to mellow out too."

Tifa thought about going home, but she didn't want put up with her stuffed shirt brother. He was stricter than their father was with her, and she didn't like him cramping her style. Cruising around while trying to decide where to go, she saw a flyer for the Ramones concert. Maybe Genesis would be there! And without that blonde...Tifa's vocabulary wasn't crude enough to think of proper terms to describe what she thought Scarlet was, but she wouldn't mind slapping her around her some...if it wasn't for her, Tifa would have scored with Genesis already, she was sure of it!


	7. Chapter 7

"That was great." Elena told Rude as her naked body lay sprawled over his. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"You're…leaving?" Rude asked, feeling disappointed and wondering if maybe she was Reno's type after all, with the same romp-and-run  
attitude.

"In a few minutes…I've got to shower and have dinner. Gotta be up in 8 hours for work, remember? I'll see you later." Elena said.

"Oh." Rude was so relieved that he wasn't being cast off, and embarrassed that he had forgotten about her job at the bakery that his  
words came out unintentionally indifferent. "Well, don't overdo it. Call me when you're done to see if I'm here."

"Whatever, _dude_." Elena felt slightly offended and got off the bed and swiftly put her dress back on before leaving his pad.

Rude sighed, realizing he might have screwed the pooch with her, and wondered how he could apologize to such a modern woman without offending her more.

Tifa was also experiencing romantic problems at the Ramones concert. She hadn't spotted Genesis, but Scarlet was there, and quite a few men were checking her out and trying their luck with her. Tifa herself was also having to tell a few guys to buzz off, her frustration and disgust becoming too much for her. And though she would never tell anyone, she was raised on classical music and it was hard to pretend to like some of the current music trends out there. Some of the Ramones' music was good, but she really just wanted to cover her ears with her hands and start screaming to block most of their stuff out. Trying to make her way out, Tifa spotted red hair, and her heart leapt up. "I was hoping you'd be here!" she nearly yelled as she hurried over to the man it belonged to.

"Hey babe." Reno said, looking appreciatively at her well-endowed chest. He didn't remember her, but she was pretty and it didn't matter nothing to him if he had already scored with her or not.

" _Oh_ , I thought you were someone else." Tifa's face and heart fell as she realized her mistake.

"Your loss." he told her, suddenly losing interest in the apparently lovestruck chick, he avoided her kind like the plague. "I lost my good time just talking to you."

Tifa frowned at his rudeness. "I bet you don't even know what a good time is!"

Reno smiled, she wasn't one of his former conquests after all. "I could show you what a good time is, if you give me a good reason to think _you_ know what one is."

Aerith wearily crawled into her bed after getting home from work, the distant muffled sounds of breaking waves making her think of Zack, falling asleep with a soft smile on her face.


	8. Chapter 8

"You're late." Rufus told Tifa when she finally came downstairs for breakfast the next morning, his entire demeanor reeking of disapproval. "You are not permitted to come and go as you please anymore."

"So you think you're Dad now? You can't tell me what to do!" A grouchy Tifa snapped at him before telling the butler what she wanted the cook to make specially for her. Her bad mood stemmed from feeling like she had cheated on Genesis with that…she never even got his name, but then Tifa didn't want to remember that jerk from last night, even though their encounter was definitely memorable. She only hoped Genesis never found out, or that if he did, it might make him jealous enough to **do** something.

"I'm passing along our father's orders. I got a phone call from France yesterday and seeing all the other young people our age wasting their youth, he's decided that you're too pretty to be wasting your time in college, since you'll never use your degree anyway. He feels it's high time you got serious about finding a suitable husband." he replied.

"What?!" Tifa just stared at her brother. It was true that she wasn't serious about her degree and never planned to work a day in her life, but…"I don't have to get married!" The thought of being stuck for life with one of their peers was abhorrent to her…they were so boring! Genesis was…Tifa let out a dreamy sigh at the thought of him.

"You will if you want your trust fund on your 21st birthday. Father feels that with your looks, you should have no problem finding the right man." Rufus took immense pleasure in telling his wayward sister that her frivolousness was no longer going to be tolerated. "And then you can devote your time to raising all those spoiled brats you'll have."

"I…I hate you!" she raged when she could speak again, wanting to slap that smirk off on her brother's face.

"That may be, but it doesn't change Father's wishes. He'd like you to have the man picked out when he and Mother get home. Needless to say, I'm sure your poet friend wouldn't qualify. We'll be inviting prospective candidates and their parents over for dinner every other night until you make a decision." he calmly continued as the butler served her breakfast, though he wondered why following in his father's footsteps had the nasty habit lately of resulting in him getting yelled at by women…first that attractive blonde yesterday, now his sister. "Now if you don't mind, since I've already eaten, I'll be in Father's office. One of us has to earn money, after all."

Tifa seethed as her brother left the table, still slightly disbelieving about his revelation. She knew he wouldn't lie about something like that, and she could almost hear her father's voice, in one of his typical lectures about their social responsibilities. It was the one thing she could never charm him into skipping. So how was she going to get out of this?

"What's with you this morning?" Reno was grouchy himself, his only score at the concert was with that chick who never asked his name, and had the nerve to scream that lousy Genesis' name instead. Then she got all flustered when it was over and rushed off. The nerve!

"Nothing, bro." Rude said, not wanting to have Reno find out about his trouble with Elena, he didn't want to listen to Reno's view on 'relationships'. "I've just got to figure out what to talk to Yuffie about, thanks to you."

"Yuffie? What kinda name is _that_?" Reno wondered.

"She's an exchange student who wants me to help her with English. You did that stupid ad, remember?" Rude reminded him.

"It worked? Then how is it stupid?" Reno wanted to know. "If she's…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. All that matters is she's no Elena." Rude said in a tone that Reno hated to hear, it meant his buddy was going to be a stubborn fool.

"Alright, what's his name?" Lucrecia asked Aerith when she dropped in during the lunch break.

"What? Who's name?" Aerith wondered what her boss was talking about.

"You were almost late yesterday, the day before that you seemed almost unhappy, and now today you're smiling more than usual." she pointed out.

"Oh." Aerith blushed. "It's not like that. There's nobody." she said, unaware she was blushing harder as the question started her thinking about Zack again.

"Well, he must be quite the nobody." Lucrecia smiled at her employee. "Just be careful that it doesn't affect your work."

"Yes, ma'am." Aerith promised as her boss left, and she wondered how she could repay Zack's kindness in fixing her car. He only asked for money for the parts, and gave her the receipt back in case anything malfunctioned. Maybe he'd be at the beach this evening when she got off work…

Tifa was glad to find Genesis at the park. She had everything packed, now she just had to surprise him. Hurrying up to the small audience listening to him, she waited until he had finished his poem. "I really need to talk to you. Alone." she whispered urgently to him.

Genesis looked quizzically at her for a moment before shrugging. "Forgive me, but when the Goddess beckons, I must respond." he told his listeners, and followed the impatient Tifa to her car. "How may I serve the Goddess today?" he asked her.

"Let's elope!" she blurted out.


	9. Chapter 9

"Tifa!" Cloud urgently whispered, and his voice, along with the alarm clock buzzing that Cid had brought with him to make sure class never went over the allotted time, startled Tifa, and she blinked, realizing she must have been daydreaming. If only she and Genesis _could_ run away together….

"What is it?" she asked her classmate testily, but she asked too loudly, and Cid was there in front of her in a heartbeat.

"Do you have your class assignment done already?" he asked.

"Uh, no, Mr. Highwind." Tifa plastered an apologetic smile on her face. "I couldn't think of anything."

"Figures." Cid grumped. "The rest of you, gimme yer stories and get out of here."

Tifa stood up and approached Cid's desk warily after the other students had left. "Um Mr. Highwind, I'm quitting college, so that's the real reason I didn't finish the assignment. My family wants me to find a husband instead."

"That's probably best given your assignments you did turn in, and pretty little thing like you shouldn't have any trouble getting married." Cid told her almost nicely as he shoved the stories in his leather satchel, glad to have one less spoiled brat to deal with.

Tifa stood there for a moment, watching him leave and found herself getting inexplicably upset at his easy dismissal. Did everyone think she was some bimbo who was good for nothing except to end up as some trophy wife? "I'm not stupid!" she exclaimed in the empty classroom. She wasn't, was she?

"Hey Poindexter, you wanna learn how to score with the chicks around here?" Vincent asked when he saw Sephiroth leave the building.

"No, I need to get to my next class." Sephiroth replied, noticing Vincent standing in the shadows, even though he wished he did know how to talk to women other than his mother.

"Sure you do, and I ain't putting up with a geek like you in class." Vincent walked over and put his arm around Sephiroth's neck. "Let's score with something else first to loosen you up." he said, pulling the protesting Sephiroth towards the parking lot.

"Why did you want us to meet here, Mr. Rude?" Yuffie asked when she arrived in front of the bakery.

"A…friend works here, and I thought it might be good for you to learn how people chat when they're buying stuff." Rude said rather lamely. If there was going to be anything between him and Elena, he wanted to let her know about Yuffie so there wouldn't be any misunderstandings. He also hadn't figured out how to apologize to her except for buying a bunch of stuff from her family's bakery.

"Welcome to Sweet Stuffs, how may I…oh, it's you." Elena said when the bell above the door rang and then realized it was Rude.

"Hi Elena." he said hopefully. "This is Yuffie, she's an exchange student who needs to work on her English."

"How nice." she replied noncommittally. "Are you here to buy anything?"

"Yeah, I'll take five each of these." Rude randomly pointed to two items in the display case, knowing Reno would eat whatever he didn't.

"Fine, I'll get those for you now, _sir_." Elena said as she headed towards the back.

"Is this normal conversation?" Yuffie asked him with a puzzled expression on her face. "I thought she was your friend."

"Sorta." Rude admitted.

"Here are your items, sir." Elena returned with two pink boxes. "That'll be 8.59." she informed him after she calculated the tax and entered everything into the cash register just as a hooded man with a gun entered.

"Open the cash register now!" he yelled at Elena, then pointed his gun at Rude and Yuffie. "Don't move!" he ordered them as Rude had involuntarily done that just, thinking of how to protect Elena and Yuffie. "Put all the money in this!" The robber threw a bag towards Elena, then made his mistake of pointing the gun at Yuffie. "Or I'll shoot her!"

Rude and Elena didn't quite see what happened next, since Yuffie moved too fast for them to register more than a blur, but one moment the robber was pointing the gun at her, the next he was on the floor clutching the wrist of his gun hand, wailing in pain. "How'd you do that? " Rude asked as he quickly kicked the gun away from him while Elena called the police.

"I have trained since I was a child." she replied with quiet dignity. "Women not allowed to use weapons at home, so we learned to not need them."

"Teach me to do that!" Elena blurted out after hanging up the phone.

"Hey man, whatcha doing? We're not done yet!" Vincent protested when Sephiroth opened the door to the van, but he didn't hear him, lost to everything in his drug-induced haze.

"I know what I am!" Sephiroth wasn't even aware he was taking his clothes off before starting to run through the parking lot.

Vincent quickly put his stash away and closed the door to the van, hurrying to his driver's seat and speeding out of there. "I ain't gonna get caught again!" he muttered darkly.


	10. Chapter 10

Zack slammed on his brakes as the van nearly ran into him as Vincent was peeling out of the parking lot. He was coming to check the bulletin board to see if there were any cheap cars for sale, since he occasionally made some money fixing the cars up and reselling them. Taking a deep breath, he checked to make sure there weren't any more speeding cars before parking in the nearest spot he found. "Wonder what their problem was." Zack said to himself as he got out of his own van, just before he heard a woman scream.

Cloud heard it too, just as he was about to get into his own car, and thought he recognized the voice. "Tifa?" Hurrying to where the scream came from, he found her just as Zack did. "What's wrong?" he asked, noticing she looked a bit disheveled which was unusual for her.

"He stole my purse!" she cried out.

"Who did?" Cloud and Zack asked simultaneously.

"The naked man!" Tifa pointed towards the tennis courts and they saw the fleeing Sephiroth.

"I'll go get it back for you." Zack promised and took off after him. Cloud wasn't far behind, realizing this was a chance for him to be a hero and maybe score points with Scarlet when she heard about it.

"Hey, it's _my_ purse!" Tifa exclaimed, chasing after them all. The three of them caught up with Sephiroth as he started climbing the chain-link fence surrounding the tennis courts.

"Wow, he's fast!" Zack said after unsuccessfully trying to grab one of Sephiroth's feet, because he was already out of his reach. "I don't think we should climb up after him. It's not like we can carry him back down if we catch him. And if he falls…" Zack didn't want to finish that thought.

"Could we use one of the tennis nets to catch him?" Cloud asked as he pointed at them.

"Hey, that's a great idea!" Zack exclaimed, and they all hurried to the closest one.

"They're really secure!" Cloud told them, having no luck with it.

"What's he saying?" Tifa was keeping her eye on Sephiroth to make sure he didn't drop her purse, and some of his mutterings drifted down to her, but she couldn't quite understand him. "Hey, don't you dare!" she yelled when he let go of the fence with the hand also holding onto her purse and started flapping his arm up and down. She shrieked in dismay when her purse did fall, landing on the ground right in front of her. "I hate you!" she shouted at Sephiroth before checking her purse to see what was damaged.

"Do you have anything sharp in there?" Zack asked her. "I gave him my pocket knife."

"Will my broken mirror work?" Tifa's frustration increased as she realized her compact and all her makeup was ruined. "Hey, where's my lipstick?" she wondered after she handed him the biggest piece of broken mirror.

"This is bogus!" Cloud muttered to himself disgustedly at his failed attempts to unattach his side without the knife. "Trying to be a hero with a tennis net. ..okay, my side's done!"

"Groovy! Can I have my knife back now?" Zack asked.

"Oh yeah, sure. Hey, why is Buster carved into the handle?" Cloud wondered as he returned the knife.

"Oh, um…that was my dog when I was a kid and got the knife as a present. When he died, I did that as a tribute to him." Zack admitted with a slightly sheepish expression, remembering how he used to play with it like it was a sword as he hurriedly cut his side free. "Alright, let's see if we can catch him."

"You'd better hurry!" Tifa exclaimed as she watched Sephiroth. "Is he trying to fly?"

"What way is he gonna fall?" Cloud asked as he and Zack folded the net in half to make it sturdier, then each grabbed hold of one side as they tried to follow his movements..

"Stay where you are, I'll get that doofus to jump there." Tifa stood in front of Zack and Cloud, away from the fence. "Your mother's a shagadelic airhead!" she shouted up at Sephiroth.

"Hey, that's not nice." Zack turned his head to look at her, just as Sephiroth made some kind of animalistic sound of outrage and jumped down at them, flapping his arms. Cloud moved too close to Zack and Sephiroth ended up landing on both of them, knocking them to the ground. Sephiroth tried to get up, but his feet were tangled in the tennis net Zack and Cloud were still holding onto, so he was stuck as well.

"It might have not been nice, but it worked." Tifa said with a smug smile as Zack and Cloud took their time getting untangled from Sephiroth and the tennis net. "It was a pretty safe bet he was a momma's boy." She paused as Sephiroth's rantings were finally clear enough to understand. "One-winged angel? That's why he thought he could fly? Hey, how come he still has my lipstick? Oh you…you…" Tifa shrieked in outrage again as Sephiroth's flailing arms caused him to mark her shirt in an ugly red line with the lipstick. "You two can deal with him, I've got to go home to change now." With that, Tifa stalked off back to the parking lot.

"She was right about one thing, he is a momma's boy. She probably didn't recognize him, um…without clothes on. He's in one of my classes." Cloud said, breaking the awkward silence that followed her departure. "What are we gonna do with him anyways?"

"I dunno." Zack scratched his head as he looked at the man who was still high as a kite. "Until he quits trippin' there's not much we can do with him. Would help if we knew where his clothes were. You know him, does he have a car?"

"I'm not sure, we don't really socialize. I can go look in the parking lot though." Cloud suddenly wanted to get far away from the tennis court, before someone saw him. His idea of being a hero seemed silly now, especially since all he did was get jumped on by a naked man, and he was positive that really wouldn't help him with Scarlet.

"Thanks, man." Zack said, slightly puzzled by how quickly Cloud left. He sat down next to Sephiroth, tuning out his drug-induced ramblings by imagining himself back in the water.

"What's going on here?" A voice interrupted his daydreaming, and Zack was surprised to see a military man staring at the two of them.

"Oh, um, nothing really, sir. He was climbing the fence and we caught him in the net so he wouldn't hurt himself." Zack explained, wondering how much trouble he could get into for damaging school property.

"I…see. Who's we?" the man asked.

"There was a woman in the parking lot and she screamed when he stole her purse, so another student and me ran after him. He's in the parking lot seeing if he had a car." Zack felt a bit ridiculous describing what happened.

"You couldn't resist playing the hero?" the man almost smiled. "And you were resourceful in handling the situation. We can use men like you. I'm Captain Angeal Hewley. I'm in charge of recruitment for this area. Have you thought of a career in the military?"

"I'm just a surfer." Zack replied. "And I'm trying to save up to open my own garage."

"You're a mechanic too? We definitely could use someone like you." The man reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a card. "Call me if you want to hear how the army can help you afford that garage. You don't have to join for life, it can be just for a few years. Nothing worthwhile is gained without risking something, son." Captain Hewley told him and left just as Cloud returned with Sephiroth's clothes.

"I didn't find a car, but I found his clothes." he told Zack. "Can we get him dressed and just leave him here?"

Before Zack could answer, a campus security guard arrived. "So this is what the reports of a ruckus at the tennis court is. Don't move!"


	11. Chapter 11

Rufus was surprised to see his sister pull up to the house and slam on her brakes so recklessly. He knew she was a flake, but he was willing to admit that she was a good driver, being careful with the ridiculously painted car their father had given her for her last birthday. He knew their father didn't care for the custom paint job, but he loved spoiling his little 'princess'. Rufus' surprise was compounded when he got a good look at her when she got out of her car, she seemed so... "What happened to you?!" He pointed at the lipstick smears on her top.

Tifa merely gave him an offended glance as she hurried inside and upstairs to her room to change. Like she'd tell her square brother that a naked man stole her purse and then tried to assault her with her own cosmetics while he was caught up in a tennis court. Rufus no doubt would think she was the one on drugs!

"Tifa, get down here right now!" her brother's voice suddenly boomed.

"I'm busy!" she yelled back, wondering what his problem was now as she tried to figure out what outfit she wanted to change into. She had fixed her hair, but she wanted to go see Genesis, wondering if she could milk the situation earlier to get some comfort from him finally.

"I said get down here!" he repeated.

"Fine!" She threw a silk robe on, wondering why he had to be such a dick. "Just because Daddy left you in charge doesn't mean…" her rant she started as she came down the stairs stopped when she saw the two policemen in their doorway looking slightly uncomfortable and her brother looking furious. "What's going on?" she asked them.

"You are Miss Tifa Shinra?" the older of the two asked her.  
"Yeah, what's going on?" she asked again.

"Were you involved in an altercation at the Midgar University tennis courts earlier this afternoon?" he continued his questioning.

"He stole my purse in the parking lot, but we caught up to him at the tennis courts." Tifa answered.

"Who stole your purse?" the younger one asked.

"I don't know!" Tifa exclaimed. "Is that all?"

"We have statements that two of the other men involved were classmates of yours, are you sure you don't know who they were?" the senior officer asked.

"When a naked man snatches my purse, I don't stop to ask to see his I.D.! If you have any more questions, talk to our lawyer!" Tifa snapped before heading back upstairs, unaware she was imitating her brother's superiority attitude.

He showed up in her doorway moments later. "I gave them our family attorney's number. Next time you find yourself in that kind of situation, tell your side to the police there. Can you imagine what the neighbors are thinking to have the police show up here so soon after you came tearing up the driveway?" he pointed out. Instead of saying the retort that immediately sprang to her lips, Tifa just smiled, thinking that in one afternoon she had more excitement than her stuffed shirt brother would ever have in his entire life.

***

Zack breathed a huge sigh of relief as he stepped onto the beach. He had never been in danger of being arrested before, and when the cops showed up after campus security called them, he was afraid he was going to have to spend the night in jail with…was that dude's name Cloud? Only Sephiroth's obvious drugged condition and Tifa confirming their story saved them from that. Now he could chill out in where he belonged. His parents had always said he loved the ocean from the first time they took him out for a day at the beach when he was still in diapers.

Aerith watched Zack run towards the waves, glad he was there. She wasn't quite sure why, but she wanted to see him again. She had never much cared for surfing, but seeing Zack do it made it seem so graceful and…Aerith blushed as she realized she just liked looking at his body in action. She barely knew him, and she had enough trouble with that…there wasn't an adequate word in her vocabulary for how she wanted to label Reno. Suddenly frustrated with herself, she flung her arms in Zack's direction in a gesture of dismissal, intending to leave and get on with her life, but he thought she was waving at him. The distraction caused him to wipe out, and Aerith paused instead of leaving, wanting to see if he was okay. She was surprised when he came running out of the ocean towards her.

"Hi! Is everything alright with your car?" he asked, sticking his board in the sand and giving her his full attention.

"Uh, yeah." Aerith mumbled, feeling embarrassed. "Are you? Sorry I messed you up. How much do I really owe you for fixing my car?"

"Don't worry about it." Zack reassured her on both counts. "I better get home now anyway."

"Can I take you to dinner then?" Aerith heard herself blurting out as she looked into his blue eyes. "That way we'd be even. I don't like owing people." she added.

"Oh, um…" It was Zack's turn to get flustered when she hesitantly smiled at him. " I guess, but not tonight. I've got too much work to do. I'm free tomorrow night though."

"Okay, I'll meet you at…have you ever been to Mario's?" she asked.

"Don't think so." Zack had heard of it though, it wasn't exactly his type of restaurant. He loved hanging out at the Seafood Shack whenever he could.

"I'll meet you there at…7?" she suggested.

"Sure." Zack agreed after a moment's pause. "It's a date." They stared at each other after he said that, until a car door slammed shut nearby, then Aerith hurried off. Neither of them knew the other had the same silly grin on their face as they tried to figure out what just happened. 


	12. Chapter 12

Aerith felt ridiculous standing in front of _Mario's_ , waiting for Zack to show up. What on earth could have possessed her to ask him out to dinner, and to _Mario's_ of all places?! It wasn't that fancy, but it was a restaurant that should only be for special occasions, not a random first date! She reached into her purse and pulled out her watch. It was plain and functional, but she wanted to wear a bracelet in its place. He was five minutes late already, and wondering if he got lost, she decided to give him ten more, and then she'd just fly solo for the evening. Her great-aunt Therese was after her constantly to join a convent, which would mean she'd be flying solo for life. There had been quite a few nuns in her family, but the only thing she liked about visiting her were the gardens, and she doubted her escapades with men would be acceptable to the Church. And living in such a insular world didn't appeal to her either. Shrugging her thoughts away, she decided she'd waited long enough and headed inside. If he showed up, fine, if not, she'd still have a nice meal and wouldn't have to dip into her savings to pay for it.

"Can I help you, sir?" the maitre'd asked Zack, looking him over condescendingly.

"Uh, yeah, I'm supposed to meet someone here. Her name is…Aerith." Zack struggled to remember if he had even been told her last name, and then saw her sitting alone. "Oh, there she is. Thanks anyway." he told the man, and hurried to the table. "Hey, sorry I'm late. Car trouble. Oh, um, these are for you." Zack nervously held out the flowers he had gotten from the bodega. Barret's daughter Marlene loved flowers and grew too many, but Barret couldn't bring himself to ask her to stop, so he gave them away. "You look really…nice." he told her. He knew that was lame as soon as he said it, but he didn't know what else to say. She looked so classy that he felt way out of his league.

"Thank you." she took the flowers and admired them for a moment. "And you look like…a fancy mechanic." Aerith hoped that she didn't sound rude, it was obvious he had worn one of his better outfits, but now he was slightly disheveled and there were small grease stains on his shirt. She herself had taken ages to get ready, finally settling on wearing a light blue maxi dress and her fake pearl jewelry. Her hair she wore down, feeling weird to not have it braided like she did during work so it wouldn't get doused in perfume.

"Have you ordered yet?" Zack asked as he sat down, wanting to change the subject away from his car trouble. It really wasn't his car after all, but he was pretty sure telling her that he had stopped to help a cute blonde named Elena wasn't a smart move.

"No, I was waiting for _you_." she said, unable to keep the frosty edge out of her voice for the long wait.

"Oh, okay. I'm sure they have good food here." Zack sat down and opened his menu, flashing her an apologetic smile.

"They do." she said, doing likewise, glad to hide her face in the menu, sure she was blushing again. The only other person who affected her by smiling was Reno, but they were nothing alike. Zack's smiles were genuinely friendly, Reno's were genuinely horny. Suddenly she wondered if Reno and Zack knew each other, and she was being 'passed around'. She immediately felt guilty for thinking that, Zack wasn't like that. He actually looked at her face when they talked, and this was all her idea, he never wanted any repayment for helping her out.

"Do…um…they offer any like, uh, hamburgers here?" he asked her quietly, interrupting her thoughts.

"Hamburgers?" Aerith stared blankly at him. She had taken him to dinner at the most expensive restaurant she could afford, and he wanted…the irony of it made her start chuckling to herself. At least she had gotten herself a cheap date! "Try the mini-calzones." she suggested. "They're kind of a cross between hamburgers and pizza."

"Really? That's great!" Zack smiled at her again, and this time she smiled back at him. This might be a good date after all...


	13. 13

Aerith turned the ignition off, sitting in her car parked in the driveway of her parents' house, her mind still going over the highlights of her dinner with Zack.

"College, huh? What for?" Zack asked. "I mean, um, what are you gonna study?" he hurriedly added when he realized how his question could have sounded.

"Business." Aerith replied promptly. "Maybe international business even."

"I… think that's great." Zack took a sip of his water. He didn't want any wine, and he doubted this was the kind of place that served pop. "So are you gonna start your own business when you graduate?"

"I haven't decided yet." Aerith's answer came out almost condescendingly, since she hadn't even seriously thought about going to college, it just sounded good. Her plan was to work her way up the corporate ladder at the department store chain she worked at. "What about you?" she quickly changed the subject before she embarrassed herself more with the act she was putting on. Thankfully Zack didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, college isn't my thing." Zack said. "I've got everything I need already."

"Like what?" Aerith was curious. How could he possibly be content with his life already?

"I've got my own mobile pad, get to surf whenever I want, and I work on cars whenever I need some clams." Zack explained.

Aerith digested that quietly as their meals arrived. He sounded almost as much of a lazy bum as Reno, but he at least had a worthwhile skill. "Do you have your own auto … " she paused, unexpectedly shy about saying the word _body_ to him, her memory of Reno's only skills pestering her again.

"My own garage? Nah, but I suppose that'd be nice." he admitted with a hesitant grin.

Aerith smiled back at him, relieved that he wasn't a bum after all.

"So, uh, thanks for the chow." Zack said as they left _Mario's_. "You didn't have to, but it was nice. So you think we're even now?"

"Yeah, I think so." Aerith agreed. "Thanks for letting me do it."

"So I guess I'll see you around." Zack mumbled, feeling unsure of what to do next. This wasn't a real date, but it was, and his usual rules weren't any help.

"Yeah." Aerith felt awkward too, now that it was over. They both just stood there for a few moments until Zack took a step towards her.

"So where's your car?" he asked. "I'll walk you to it."

"Oh, it's right over there." Aerith pointed.

"You ever been to the _Seafood_ _Shack_?" Zack asked casually just to say something as they walked to her car.

"I don't think so. I've heard of it though." she told him when they reached her car. "Good night."

"Good night." Zack felt back on familiar ground now, and went to kiss her before leaving, but his timing was off, and when she bent her head down to get the keys out of her purse and dropped them, he ended up losing his balance when he tried to correct himself. He accidentally grabbed at Aerith to regain his balance, and another diner who just arrived in the parking spot next to Aerith mistook the scene.

"Thief! Thief!" Ellie Beasley yelled, reaching into her purse for the pepper spray and macing Zack before he or Aerith could stop her.

Aerith got out of her car and headed inside, not surprised that her parents were waiting for her in the living room.

"How was dinner, dear?" her mother asked first.

"He was late, just wanted a burger, and he got maced in the parking lot." Aerith told them with a smile. "Good night, Mom and Dad." She went to her room before they could ask her more questions and got into her favorite pajamas. She couldn't sleep though, she just curled up in bed, thinking of the embarrassment of dealing with the police while the paramedics took care of Zack. And when she kissed him as an apology, she felt a definite spark. Which was probably why she promised to go to the _Seafood_ _Shack_ on Friday to make up the macing to him. "I still owe him after all." she muttered before falling asleep.


End file.
